Monday 28 September 2009
Problem Task. Dual and Cooperative Federalism
Statistical Abstract of the US, State Rankings The U.S. Census Bureau maintains one of the largest collections of data about social and economic conditions in the United States as a whole, and all of the nation's 50 states. Each year the Bureau publishes a summary of this information in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. You can link to an electronic version of this publication at the Bureau's web site, http://www.census.gov/. Go the U.S. Census Bureau's web site and locate the Statistical Abstract. From there, identify the collection of what the Bureau calls "State Rankings," and study in particular the following three measures: (1) Infant mortality rate, (2) Violent crime rate, and (3) Persons below the poverty level. How might a conservative use this information to argue for a system of "dual federalism"? How might a liberal use this information to argue for a system of "cooperative federalism"?
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In fact, it is remarkable, how one kind of data could provide information for theories with the opposite points in their core. But in my opinion such a dual interpretation of statistics is not a result of 'playing with numbers' but a result of different perspectives on how these numbers should be raised or reduced.
ReplyDeleteConsidering these three categories (infant mortality, violent crimes, and poverty), first of all, it should be noted that in the 5-, 6-year period (2000-2005/2006) these rates only slightly changed and remained stable. For example, infant rate underwent change in only 0,1-0,2‰. Such a stability in national scale could be a supportive point of the cooperative federalism. Indeed, liberals would argue that the federal government is able to see the general situation and can redistribute the national resources according to the states needs.
On the opposite site, dual federalism would take these ratings, especially those that are data from particular states. The point is that these numbers vary from state to state and these differences are significant. South Carolina took the 1st place with its violent crime rate. It is twice the national rate. Even more, it is considerably higher than in the nearby state of North Carolina and higher than in Texas that outnumbers it with population. Such a situation is difficult to explain using a general data. This is what would be used by conservatives. Instead of widening the powers of federal government the initiative has to be given to the states authorities. It is supposed that they are more competent in the issues of their own states and have actual information and practical methods to solve the local problems.
Do you mean that in South Carolina violent crime rate is twice as high as the national rate? Can any other data used by conservatives and liberals to argue for a system of "dual/cooperative federalism"?
ReplyDeleteWhile studying and analyzing the required information (Infant mortality rate, Violent crime rate, and Persons below the poverty level.), I kept in mind the significance of these measures.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Nikita that both conservatives and liberals would take advantage of the numbers stated and try to pale with them.
A conservative might use this information to argue for a system of "dual federalism" in the following way. As we all know, conservatives want the control functions to be given back to the states. They think it would lead to the solution of all the economical and social problems, as the national government is not that receptive to the vital problems of the states. Let’s take a look at issue of infant mortality in the South-Western part. The California’s rate is 5.3. And the neighboring Oregon’s – 5.9, Nevada’s is 5.8. Arizona’s is 5.9. The difference is pretty unessential. The position of the region is stable. States are willing to work for the well-being of their citizens. So, the conservative would use these numbers to argue in favor of the dual federalism.
How might a liberal use this information to argue for a system of "cooperative federalism"? Liberals believe, that states cannot and aren’t willing to protect the social civil rights. Let’s take another issue and compare the rates. In the statistics for “People below poverty line” the first place goes to Mississippi, Louisiana is the 2nd. But the situation in the neighboring states is not nearly as bad (for example, Texas and Alabama are somewhere in the middle). A liberal would say that states cannot and don’t want to protect the civil social rights.
I agree with my groupmates and think that both conservatives and liberales would take advantage of the data and will make these numbers help them to prove their ideas.
ReplyDeleteAs we know, dual Federalism is a concept that derives from the view that the Constitution was a compact made by the sovereign states and the people of those states for the limited purpose of giving the new national government a range of enumerated powers. Conservatives would probably use these measures to show, that rates (infant mortality rate, poverty rate and violent crime rate)are not the same in different states.
Let's take Infant minority rate, for example. Very high in District of Columbia (14.1), low in New Jersey(5.2)These states are in the one part of the country, have pretty the same climate. But their ratings are very different. So, Conservatives would think, that one of the reasons of it is a policy of state government, so initiatives should be given to state authorities to control it. Other two measures also differs from state to state.
As for liberals and their idea of cooperative federalism, which states that states can't protect the rights of people, they will find different information in the same rates. Texas and Arizona are pretty the same in the Violent Crime Rate, New Mexico differs, but slightly. The average rates in the 3 measures shows the situation all over the country quite well, and we can study them and understand properly, what is going on in the US.
To sum up, this data is very general, and both liberals and conservatives can support their ideas showing different examples and different ratings